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Behind the scenes as a [REDACTED] Game Master
Once upon a time, I worked as a game master for a very popular MMORPG. My duties were relatively simple: help players out of sticky situations and enforce the rules of the game when it came to cheating, harassment, and general player behavior. A game master's role is to protect the player from any and all potential game dangers, up to and including the player himself. In my work as a GM, I saw many amazing things. I saw guild members contact support staff because they were worried about another player's real-life wellbeing. I saw incredibly complex scams across multiple players and accounts that, while infuriating and exceptionally against the rules, were astonishing in their genius. And of course, I saw lots and lots of cybering.
Darkfall Unholy Wars accidentally logs everyone in as an administrator
Everyone who logged in to Darkfall Unholy Wars to test the latest patch got an unexpected surprise not listed in the patch notes. Sure, everyone was expecting new warships and combat changes, but everyone was not expecting to log in as an administrator. That was apparently true of every single player logging in immediately after the patch, prompting immediate forum speculation that a rollback was imminent. According to an official statement, the addition of the admin tag was purely a display glitch and no players actually had access to admin powers. Whether that's accurate or it's simply a matter of no players figuring out the admin commands before the issue was fixed is slightly ambiguous. Either way, the patch is now live and everyone can enjoy it, but not everyone can enjoy the sort of unfettered PvP you'd find in a world of admins -- which is probably a good thing. [Thanks to MandatoryDDs for the tip!]
The Daily Grind: When does a clever loophole become a bannable exploit?
Trouble has been brewing this week over a Star Wars: The Old Republic "exploit" in which people use seemingly legitimate (but perhaps unintended) game mechanics to tip the balance of the game in their favor. Of course, this is nothing new to veteran MMO players, who have seen hundreds, even thousands, of such loopholes and bugs spackled and patched since first MMO came online. Entire World of Warcraft guilds have been banned, however temporarily, for "exploiting" poorly coded raid AI, for example. I've always felt that it's the game company's responsibility to counter loopholes before anyone takes advantage of them; the onus should be on the developer, not the player, to set the rules of the game using hardcoded mechanics. The players can't be expected to suss out the game-designers' intent, after all. Other gamers believe that "exploiters" really ought to know better and deserve whatever punishments the game's GMs mete out. What do you think? When does a clever loophole become a bannable exploit? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Public Service Announcement: Don't file false GM reports
This may seem like common sense to a lot of people, but it came up as an issue recently on the official Customer Support forums. The message is simple: Don't file false GM tickets. Whether you're doing it to get back at someone you dislike, to play a prank on someone, or just because you're bored, don't do it. Support forum agent Nevalistis points out that false reports are is against the Game Master interaction policy. Each GM petition is taken seriously, and if the GMs see a pattern of frivolous or false reports, they can and will take action from warnings all the way up to suspension or permanent account closure. Those of us who have tried to petition a GM lately know how long the queue times are -- so from all of us with legitimate problems, please make sure your ticket is legit. It may save your account, it may save a GM's sanity, and it'll certainly help those with real problems get the help they need a little faster.
Aeria Games: "If you don't have fun playing, we'll give you a refund"
There aren't many MMO publishers out there who would actually offer refunds for gamers who don't have fun in their titles, but this is exactly what Aeria Games is doing. We did a double take when hearing about this but it's legit. Superman0X is a USA Gamemaster for Aeria Games, and has declared "April is Fun Month at Aeria... GUARANTEED". That's a bold statement. But what does it mean for players of the various Aeria Games MMOs? Superman0X writes, "We are so sure you will have fun we are going to put our AP [Aeria Points] where our mouth is. If any player does not have fun we will refund all their AP purchases for the entire month up to 5000AP." Players who didn't enjoy themselves in April will have a window of opportunity to request a refund from May 1st to May 10th . You can check out the full details in the announcement but we're guessing Aeria has a lot of faith in their titles if they'd even consider making such an offer.
Ghostcrawler and Vaneras on the classes that GMs play
What classes do Blizzard employees play?This is an often asked question by people on the forums. Sometimes it comes with a finger pointing at such and such a developer or community manager, accusing them of favoritism for a given class because it's the one they play the most.Over the past few days we've seen two blue responses over this issue. Vaneras over on the European forums makes note to say that the GMs play the game just as "everybody else does." They encompass all classes and all play styles.This is interesting in that it shows that Blizzard folks are involved in both casual and hard core raiding, and casual and hard core PvPing. I find this particularly interesting, since after a long day of work at WoW Insider sometimes the last thing I want to do is sit down and trudge through some raid content. But then again, sometimes I do. Ghostcrawler also weighed in on the issue a few days earlier, making several interesting points.
New Customer Service Forum
Questions are frequently asked on the official forums that only receive a response saying that it's an issue that needs to be reported to a GM in-game rather than on the forums. Well, now people have a place to ask such questions on the forums, where everyone can see them - the customer service forum. The forum is frequented by Blizzard GMs and is littered with official Blizzard responses. There are already some helpful sticky posts here - one listing solutions to common problems and another displaying this week's most common issues. Technical issues should still posted about in the technical support forum (or the Mac technical support forum) and the bug report forum remains the best place to report specific bugs, but the customer service forum provides a place to discuss in-game issues that are not technical in nature.
Straight from a GM's mouth
Over at Something Awful, an alleged ex-Blizzard Europe GM is answering questions from the fray on what it's really like behind the curtain. From 25-year accounts to GM Island, there are some interesting questions and answers on the front page, although you'll have to subscribe to Something Awful if you want to read the entire thread.GMs don't speak out frequently about their jobs, but it can be a thankless task. From newbie questions to insults and petty disputes, the GMs have to put up with a lot from us; but without them the world would run much less smoothly. Yesterday was France's Labour Day, meaning that no GM tickets were available, so I dread to think what they will be deluged with this morning.There's more about the life of a GM on the WoW website; Blizzard are often recruiting, if this sounds like a dream job. Of course, there are other ways of getting paid to play WoW![Via AFK Gamer]
Breakfast Topic: GM for a Day
Omnipotence, omniscience, and having to deal with users' complaints day in, day out; being a GM has its ups and downs. If you suddenly found yourself in the shoes of a GM, for one single day, what would you do with your power? Is it time for revenge, or would you seek out those in need of help? Would you run rampant on the forums? Glide invisibly around the world?Of course, GMs can't make gameplay changes, but you could perhaps escalate a particular pet proposal that's in the pipeline. The notion of character transfers is one I'd like to put some weight behind, plus some mechanism for international co-operative play. With a GM's power, I'd love to just explore the world, invisible and untouchable. A day might not be long enough, though.
